41st Tennessee

Troop Movements of the 41st Tennessee

My GG Grandfather, Captain Walter Scott Bearden, led Company E. of the 41st Tennessee. They were captured early in the war after the fall Fort Donelson. They were located next to Graves Battery which was heavily engaged.

Graves Battery and 41st Tennessee at Fort Donelson

They were exchanged in 1862 and resumed duty at Vicksburg. He and his twin brother Edwin, were both severely wounded in the war. Lt. Edwin Bearden was shoot in the upper leg leading a charge at the Chickamauga, Brotherton Farm break-thru . Walter was wounded three time in the Battle of Atlanta. His third wound was thought fatal. It was only by the intervention of a young nurse from Shelbyville Tennessee, that he over came an upper thigh bullet wound. Walter and Maggie would be wed a few years latter. Walter would go on to be a Circuit Judge. His Sergeant Major S.A. Cunningham would establish the Confederate Veteran Magazine.

The magazine became “the official organ first of the United Confederate Veterans and later of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and the Confederate Southern Memorial Society.” Over the years, the magazine became “one of the New South’s most influential monthlies.” It had a readership of over 20,000 by 1900. After Cunningham’s death in 1913, the second editor was Edith P. Pope. The magazine ceased publication in 1932. – Wikipedia

The 41st was decimated in front of The Carter House in the Battle of Franklin. Brigadier General Otho Strahl was killed leading their charge.